Artist: VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR
Album: TRISECTOR (CD)

Year: 2008
EAN/UPS: 5099952103001
Media type: CD

When Van Der Graaf made that comeback a couple of years ago with those unexpected shows and the Present album people refused to believe it was going to happen until they were actually stood there in front of us singing of black days at the bottom of the blackest sea.The euphoria, the disbelief and the celebration is behind us now, one of the finest bands ever are properly back and the second album from this new period of Van Der Graaf life is here.

Stripped down to a trio of original 1968 members now – Hugh Banton, Peter Hammill and Guy Evans - the first thing to say about Trisector is that there is material on here to stand up next the best from any period of the band’s many lives. Peter Hammill is on top form with his extremely personal lyrics - inward looking, unflinching as ever as age takes hold; the melancholy, that wonderfully distinctive voice, that clock that’s always ticking and a lifetime spent unlearning all that he knows.

The twelve and a half minutes of Over The Hill is classic Van Der Graaf Generator with all those breathtaking rollercoaster rides and stabs of jarring drama that lead us to that euphoric grandness. We Are Not Now is seriously progressively challenging rock – Van Der Graaf are not the kind of band who you expect to just rehash things, they don’t here! There are moments on Trisector that are genuinely pushing at musical edges – and if you want emotion that Peter Hammill is still the (emo? This is the real stuff). The best moments more than make up for the risks that don’t really pay off – the album opens with a rather uneventful four minute instrumental that really did lower my expectations and had me fearing the worst.

Start your first listen with the opening moments of Interference Patterns lose yourself in more ceremonial quicksand... Another very fine album from probably the greatest English band ever.

TRACKLIST:

1. The Hurlyburly (4:34)
2. Interference Patterns (3:49)
3. The Final Reel (5:47)
4. Lifetime (4:43)
5. Drop Dead (4:44)
6. Only in a Whisper (6:43)
7. All That Before (6:26)
8. Over the Hill (12:26)
9. (We Are) Not Here (4:04)

Total Time: 53:16

LINE-UP:

- Hugh Banton / organ
- Guy Evans / drums
- Peter Hammill / vocals, guitar, piano